1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for applying frosting to food stuffs. In particular, this invention relates to an apparatus and a method for applying a frosting to food stuffs that can have a snow-like appearance.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Topically sweetened food stuffs such as breakfast cereals, pastries, and cookies are well known and have been sold on the market for many years. It is known in the industry that coating food stuff particles with a sweet substance enhances the palatability as well as the marketability of these products. Sweetened coatings can be used to change the appearance of food stuffs to improve their marketability. The discussion of this invention is directed primarily to frosted ready-to-eat cereal particles, but the usefulness of the invention is not limited to cereal products or any particular food stuff.
Frosted cereals are typically prepared by coating the cereal pieces with a solution of sweeteners and then drying the coated pieces. Generally, processes for coating cereal pieces can be achieved by numerous methods known in the art including, stirring the solution and cereal pieces in a container, tumbling the solution and cereal pieces in a rotating drum, or spraying the solution onto the cereal pieces.
Sugar is generally used as the primary ingredient in the sweetening solution. Different types of sugars useful as frosted coatings are known in the art. The most commonly used sugar has been sucrose. Other usable types of sugar include dextrose, glucose, corn syrup, honey, and fructose. Fructose has the characteristic of being sweeter than sucrose. This characteristic is often utilized to produce pre-sweetened ready-to-eat cereals that provide traditional levels of sweetness at reduced concentrations of sucrose. Artificial sweeteners can also be used to coat cereal products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,171 to Furda et al. discloses a typical method for coating cereal pieces with a mixture of crystalline fructose and high fructose corn syrup. The cereal food pieces are enrobed with a heated edible oil and then dusted with a dry powdered sugar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,984 to Gilbertson discloses a ready-to-eat breakfast cereal that is coated with a liquid sweetener such as honey or corn syrup. The liquid sweetener is heat treated to evaporate much of its moisture as it is applied to the cereal pieces. Stickiness is eliminated by coating the cereal particles as cooling takes place with a powdered material, such as finely divided protein or wheat germ.
The inventions above do not provide methods that make significant changes to the appearance of the cereal pieces. These inventions do not produce a cereal piece with a snow-like frosting that remains hard during storage and is not sticky to the touch. Also, these inventions do not provide an apparatus that continuously applies a sweetened frosting to a foods stuff followed by continuous rapid drying of the frosting.
Regardless of the type of sugar used, the form of sugar used is either in a crystalline state or in a noncrystalline state. In its crystalline state, sugar is nonsticky, nonhygroscopic, and has a white or "frosted" appearance. In its noncrystalline state, sugar is relatively sticky, hydroscopic and has a hard, transparent, or glass-like appearance.
A cereal piece can be coated with noncrystalline sugar in a number of ways. In one instance, the cereal piece can be coated with a sugar solution having a small amount of moisture, for example 5% or less. After it is applied to the cereal product and allowed to cool, the resulting product is a hard, clear coating. Alternatively, a cereal piece can be coated with a noncrystalline sugar by making a sugar solution with a moisture content as high as about 35% and applying it to form a thin film over the surface of the cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,718 to Chivers discloses a process for making a sweetened cereal wherein pieces of ground candy floss are applied to moistened surfaces of the cereal. In this invention crystalline sugar is ground into small pieces and added to water and then sprayed onto a tumbling mass of cereal piece. This results in the cereal pieces being coated with a sticky slurry. The coated pieces are then dried in an oven to reduce their moisture content. A hard glaze coating forms on the pieces. The initial crystalline sugar is converted to a noncrystalline state in the final product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,339 to Edwards discloses a process for producing a frosted breakfast cereal. In this patent the breakfast cereal product is coated with seed crystals of dextrose and sucrose. An aqueous solution of dextrose and sucrose is then uniformly applied to the surface of the cereal. The moisture content of the cereal is reduced by drying at a temperature below that which can cause browing of the cereal product's crystalline sugar. The resulting product is a frosted breakfast cereal such as corn flakes, puffed wheat, or puffed rice.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,676 to McKown et al. discloses a crystalline sugar coated cereal and the process for producing it. This invention discloses a process in which individual cereal piecea are coated with relatively coarse crystalline sugar granules. The process includes mixing the cereal pieces and crystals of sugar together. The granules are made to adhere to the surface of the cereal with the use of an edible binding agent mixed with water. The binding agent solution can be sprayed onto the surfaces of the cereal pieces. The cereal pieces are dried to lower their moisture content, sifted to remove loose pieces of sugar, and then packaged.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,822 to Henthorn et al. discloses a process for preparing a breakfast cereal in which hard butter containing crystalline sugar coats the breakfast cereal. The sugar and butter are applied to the cereal in liquid form a slurry. The slurry may be applied by spraying, by tumble enrobing, or by any other conventional method. This process results in a cereal product coated with coarse granules of crystalline sugar.
Sugar in a noncrystalline state has numerous disadvantages. Cereals coated with noncrystalline sugar absorb moisture readily and become sticky. Moisture absorption is detrimental to the cereal's appearance and palatability because it causes the cereal particles to become soft or noncrisp. In contrast, sugar in the crystalline form enhances the storage stability of the cereal because it remains nonsticky and does not absorb moisture as readily as noncrystalline sugar.
Presweetened cereals have an advantage over unsweetened cereals. Before consuming an unsweetened cereal, table sugar and milk are usually added to the cereal. Table sugar does not readily cling or adhere to the cereal particles. Presweetening of a cereal makes it possible for a manufacturer to add an appropriate amount of sugar to cereal particles for sweetness which remains adhered to the cereal particles after moistening with milk.
It is the object of this invention to provide an apparatus and a process for applying a frosting on food stuffs wherein the frosting has a snow-like appearance. The invented apparatus both sprays atomized sweetener onto the food stuff particles and dries the sweetener before the particles are packaged. The appearance of this frosting can have an appearance unlike that of traditional crystalline sugar coated or glazed cereals. This frosting readily adheres to the food stuff pieces and does not readily absorb moisture during storage. The food stuff pieces do not stick together during storage. The resulting product exhibits optimum characteristics of storage, stability, appearance, and palatability.